April Rides

[Crankin]

I'll start.
As always, I have good intentions, but sometimes, life does get in the way (and cold wind). About an hour before I was going to go on a group ride, I realized that 1) today was the only day I had to do some advanced cooking prep for Passover 2), buy my son a present for his 30th birthday in time to get it to CA, and 3) although it was the same temperature as when I commuted yesterday, there were 20 mph wind gusts, with a steady breeze of about 10, so the real feel would be about 27 at 10:00. I was very industrious, doing laundry and various other work related tasks, as well as cooking, so at 2:00 DH and i set out for a ride. The wind is out of the north, which is a very cold wind at this time of year. We decided to head up Strawberry Hill first, to get warm, but fighting the wind going up a hill was demoralizing. Good thing was on the middle part of the loop, we had a tailwind, and I was cruising at 19-20. I slowed down a lot, going up my hill, as my knee was a bit angry when I got up this morning, after my commute yesterday. I think it's getting used to the new gearing combos.
Anyway, a very short ride, 11 miles, but I feel like worked really hard. It looks like there will be no riding until Sunday, though, as while tomorrow will be nice (and warmer), I have to work all day instead of half a day. Friday is going to be 70% chance of rain, and I have an appointment after work. Saturday, looks like rain, too.
We've subbed the rain for the snow.

[ny biker]

Really the weather is against us. I realize it's nowhere near as bad down here as it is for those of you who are farther north, but it's bad enough for someone who hates the cold more with each passing year. I have cancelled four rides that I had planned over the past couple of weeks, partially because I've been busy and tired, but in large part because I'm just sick of being outside in the cold north wind.

Tonight I had planned to go out for a ride after work. It's been in the 50s here today and the sun has been warm, but the breeze is from the NW and there's a chill to it and the sun will be gone by the time I get out to ride so it will be chilly. I'm thinking of postponing the ride until tomorrow when it will be warmer. Of course I've been eating all day as if I was going for a ride tonight rather than having a light lunch as I would on a non-workout day, but dammit I'm tired of wearing AmFib tights and Windstopper gloves and booties. It's just making me cranky.

[Crankin]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I've been wearing my battery heated gloves! Yes, they are a new toy, but I needed them yesterday morning on the way to work, when it was 36. Today, I just wore regular mid weight fleece lined cycling gloves. My hands just can't tolerate the Amphibs, even when I got a bigger size, I just feel like my fingers are being strangled.
I know this too, will pass, in terms of the weather, but I won't ride in pouring rain. Cold, I am OK with at this time of year, but the wind today really added a dimension I didn't need. Trying to stay positive. I may be able to get a commute in on Friday, but it will require a mad dash home from the gym at 6:30 AM, shower, eat, and get on my bike, see 3 clients, and book out of there quickly to get home, change, and head off to an important hair appointment. I'd be willing to do this in a light rain, but we'll see. It's only 5.2 miles each way.

[ny biker]

I totally agree about riding in heavy rain, especially cold rain. It can actually be dangerous, if you're not able to keep warm enough.


I decided to delay my ride until tomorrow night, and instead I went shopping for a dress for my cousin's upcoming wedding. I found something nice. It cost a bit more than I wanted to spend but I already have shoes, a slip, everything else I need to go with it and it looks good on me so I felt like I'd had a successful evening. Then as I was driving through the mall parking lot toward the highway, someone drove up next to me and told me that both of my tail lights were out.

The car is due for an oil change and inspection, but I had planned to wait until next week for that. But nonworking tail lights are a safety hazard so I would have to bring the car in for service first thing tomorrow. Since both lights were out, I hoped it was just a blown fuse, but it could be something more serious. My car (a Prius) is full of computers that control everything including the lights, and I've had problems with them in the past. Since it's no longer under warranty it would be expensive to deal with that again. And if I have to take the car in for service tomorrow, it could easily mess up my whole day and prevent me from riding my bike after work. This is what I was thinking as I drove home.

Then when I got home I asked the internet was what going on, and it told me that I probably just needed to replace some light bulbs. And there were even videos to show me how to do it. So I will attempt this first thing tomorrow morning, and hopefully after that my day will be routine enough to allow some cycling. It will be breezy but the will winds from the SOUTH. So it should be sunny and warm and pleasant. No more AmFibs!!

[Crankin]

I commuted again today. The rain stayed south, or at least it didn't rain while I was riding! I got home from boot camp and DH was still home, so we rode out together, at 8 AM. There was a major back up of traffic on one of the more main roads, as they were street cleaning along the curb. DH went ahead and I guess he went to the left of the cars to see what the heck was going on (a bad move I would never do.) But, then, all of the cars stopped, and I could see the street cleaning stuff. There was no room in the small area where I usually ride, as that's where they were cleaning. But, I got in the lane, and it was just a minute of stopping, as they were letting vehicles go through on a one way basis. I caught up to DH quickly, as we were in a wide bike/parking lane over the Concord River and then we parted ways. All in all, a bit faster today and I wore a new tunic from Terry (made by a French brand) and my commuting capris that have a tri chamois, with my bolero, so I did not have to change, except for my shoes. Nice.

[ny biker]

I did go out for a ride last night after work. (I also successfully changed the tail light bulbs in the car. It was easy -- sometimes car manufacturers make it difficult to access the light housings, but in this case I was able to get at them with plenty of room to work even though the bike was in the back of the car.)

It was windy yesterday, but it was warm. I was overdressed! It was 70 degrees and right around sunset when I started. I didn't know how much it would cool down while I was out, but I thought there was a good chance it would get chilly. So I wore wool capris, a long sleeved lightweight wool shirt under a short sleeved jersey, and toe covers. But it was still in the high 60s when I finished with strong breezes from the south, so I didn't really need the capris or the toe covers. It was a pleasant change from all the "I wish I had an extra layer" rides I did this winter.

In all I rode 16 miles, a short version of my usual hilly route. My legs were pretty tired, but I averaged slightly faster than the last time I did the same ride, not bad considering I've been off the bike for several weeks.

[Aromig]

I managed to do my first long ride of the season yesterday - country roads in a big loop. I had a terrible headwind for the first 20 miles so I felt awful and I think I started out dehydrated to boot. By the time I got to the first convenience store to refill my bottles I'd already emptied them. On the way back, I got lost and ended up doing 5 miles on a busier road than I'd wanted to be on, but it worked out OK. It was a bit chilly with the wind (I never know how to dress appropriately for 50s-60s, sun and wind make such a difference in this range!), but I survived.

[ny biker]

Seems like we're all dealing with wind lately.

For temps in the 50s-60s, I find that the key is multiple lightweight layers, so you can easily add or subtract as needed and won't have anything too bulky to try to fit in a pocket or bag if you decide you don't want to wear it.

[Crankin]

I rode my very short loop today, on a day when I didn't plan to ride. I had plans to meet my cousin for lunch, so I was just going to work out in my home gym. Then she canceled, and I was kind of pissed since i could have gone on a group ride. But, I had a lot of paperwork to do at home, plus dealing with various client crisis stuff, I figured I needed a short break before the rain. It was cold, even though the temperature said 45, so I was dressed for it being 35. I'm just slow and I don't like this. I know eventually, things will fall into place.
Glad I went, and now it is sleeting out. Lovely weather for April. Weekend looks good, though.

[ny biker]

We have a "back-door cold front" here, meaning weather coming from the northeast rather than the west or south. Which means cloudy, damp, cold, periods of rain, generally unpleasant. So I cancelled my post-work ride tonight. Tomorrow will be more of the same, weather-wise, so no rescheduling to tomorrow.

I just bought the Sonic Highways dvd that was released yesterday -- don't have HBO so I haven't seen any of it yet, though I've listened to the CD many times since it was released last year. So maybe I will put the bike on the indoor trainer tonight and pedal through an episode or two. (Or maybe not -- I'm going to run some errands first, and don't know what time I'll get home).

The weekend here looks good, too. Saturday morning is our club's annual Cherry Blossom ride. I won't be taking part, because I have things I need to do that morning, so I'm thinking about a solo afternoon ride instead.

[Helene2013]

finally should be nice next weekend for Montreal as well. We'll probably get our old hybrids out to test road conditions. Does not look that good (leftovers from snow, holes, sides are dirty), etc. So test-driving it before taking our good bikes out will be a good workout as they are much heavier too.

Right now it is very cold, waiting for some rain to fall any moment, which will transfort into snow during evening. Hard to believe we're almost mid-April with this kind of yacky weather. It was expected though with all the great lakes solidly frozen due to record freezeing temperatures of this past winter. So it will be a verrrrry slow spring to arrive in many areas as the lakes will take to time to get rid of their ice and cold water = pushing cold air east. bummer.